1. Well, there wasn’t a ton to like in this one. Texas just looked overmatched for most of the game and the Longhorns made enough errors that they never really gave themselves a chance. Oklahoma looked more physical, which was surprising, looked more prepared and looked more talented overall. Texas will head home with a second loss on the ledger and the Longhorns will to lick their wounds after this one. Texas was confident coming in (maybe too confident) and give credit for Texas for continuing to battle all the way until the end, but the Longhorns just didn’t put forth the kind of effort necessary to win a game like this.
2. I’ll try to find some positives in this write-up, but there may not be a ton. If you’re looking for a silver lining type of write-up, you may want to skip the rest of this one.
3. Texas certainly didn’t play its best football, but Oklahoma didn’t exactly look like world beaters either. The Sooners will stay in the College Football Playoff race with the win but that didn’t look like a championship-level team in its first real test of the season.
4. Texas’ tackling was flat-out atrocious, especially in the secondary. There were legitimately about five guys around CeeDee Lamb on the flea-flicker touchdown and nobody could make a play. Brandon Jones and Joseph Ossai whiffed and B.J. Foster never got in position to make the tackle either. Credit to Lincoln Riley for a great pay-call, but there was no way that should have gone for a touchdown.
5. Lamb would victimize Texas again in the fourth quarter, this time with Brandon Jones and Chris Brown failing to get Lamb on the ground on another touchdown play. Jones would later miss tackles on back-to-back plays on OU’s final scoring drive of the game that resulted in long runs for the Sooners. He wasn’t alone though … there were plenty of missed tackles by Texas in this one.
6. Oklahoma sacked Sam Ehlinger nine times. Unreal. Never in a million years did I think that would happen. I thought the Longhorns’ offensive line was one of UT’s biggest advantages coming into the game but they were completely outclassed by OU’s front seven. There were a couple occasions where Ehlinger probably could have got rid of the ball a bit quicker, but the line’s inability to pick up stunts and keep Ehlinger clean was one of the more surprising developments of the tame.
7. Jalen Hurts is exactly who I thought he was coming into the game. When he’s forced to actually make throws to guys who aren’t wide open, he’s a very average passer. Hurts would finish with 235 yards and 3 touchdowns, but most of that was because of CeeDee Lamb getting wide open and making plays after the catch. Hurts did throw an interception, missed several other throws and nearly had another pass picked off in the end zone. Hurts is a good college player, but he sure as hell didn’t look like a Heisman Trophy-caliber player today.
8. While Hurts was unimpressive as a passer, he did make plenty of plays with his legs. He rushed for 131 yards and a score on 17 carries, but Texas didn’t exactly make him work for those yards, especially early in the game. It’s almost like Texas was surprised at Hurts pulling the ball down early in the game because it was the same thing over and over … the UT defense would get pressure upfield on the edge, only to see Hurts dart up the middle of the field for easy yardage.
9. Texas trailed 10-3 at the half, but it felt like the Longhorns were very fortunate to not be down by a few scores. That first-half performance by the Longhorns was just flat out bad.
10. The Longhorns had 45 yards of total offense (negative-five rushing yards) before the last drive of the first half where they got the field goal. Not good.
11. Oklahoma was prepared for UT’s lateral passing game and the Sooners are athletic enough to take that stuff away, yet Texas kept going back to it with zero success. It seemed pretty obvious that Texas needed to go away from the East-West stuff and push the ball vertically (and run right at OU). Case in point … Devin Duvernay’s first 5 receptions covered just 27 yards, and 18 of those yards came on one completion. That means his other four receptions covered a total of 9 yards.
12. The stretch run plays weren’t working either, be it with the backs or Devin Duvernay. Finally, in the second half, Texas started running the ball right at Oklahoma and you saw Roschon Johnson pop off a couple big runs.
13. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a back keep the ball tucked away like Johnson did on his 57-yard run. He literally had that damn thing pinned under his chin and against his pads. That’s some ball security.
14. Speaking of Johnson, he should have made the decision on who should be the starter pretty easy after today. Roschon finished with 95 yards and a score on just 8 carries. Keaontay Ingram had just 2 carries for 9 yards.
15. Oklahoma outgained Texas 511 yards to 310. If I’m being honest, this game didn’t feel as close as the final score would seem to indicate. Only some bad plays by Jalen Hurts kept Texas within striking distance.
16. Collin Johnson had a good game in his first action back from injury (6 catches for 82 yards). He made some beautiful catches but that third-quarter drop when Texas was pinned deep was big. That had a chance to be a huge gain if he brings that one in.
17. Sam Ehlinger didn’t get a lot of help from his line (and sometimes his receivers), but this was not the kind of effort we’ve come to expect from him. His final line … 26 of 38 for 210 yards with 0 TDs and 0 INTs. Ehlinger did score two TDs on the ground but finished with -9 yards rushing due to the sacks. Bottom line, Oklahoma did a really good job of keeping Ehlinger out of rhythm and he just wasn’t good enough to get the win today.
18. What the hell was going on with Texas’ kick returns? I don’t even mind Duvernay bringing it out from deep in the end zone and trying to pop a big play, but dropping a fair catch and fielding one that was probably going to go out of bounds put Texas in a big hole. After advancing OU’s first kick-off out to the 31 yard line, the next four kick-off returns had Texas starting on the Longhorns’ 21, 13, 5 and 16 yard line. Texas’ average field position for the game (12 drives) was the 19 yard line. Oklahoma’s average starting position was at its 41 yard line.
19. Not only did the field position suck, every time I looked up, Texas was facing a third and long. A combination of bad field position and no success on first and second downs is a recipe for disaster.
20. I said coming out of the West Virginia and Oklahoma State wins, Texas would need to play better than it did in those two games to win this one. The Longhorns certainly were not better, and three straight weeks of less-than-stellar play is a bit of a red flag moving forward. I still fully expect Texas and Oklahoma to meet up again in December, but Texas has a lot of areas in which it needs to improve.
2. I’ll try to find some positives in this write-up, but there may not be a ton. If you’re looking for a silver lining type of write-up, you may want to skip the rest of this one.
3. Texas certainly didn’t play its best football, but Oklahoma didn’t exactly look like world beaters either. The Sooners will stay in the College Football Playoff race with the win but that didn’t look like a championship-level team in its first real test of the season.
4. Texas’ tackling was flat-out atrocious, especially in the secondary. There were legitimately about five guys around CeeDee Lamb on the flea-flicker touchdown and nobody could make a play. Brandon Jones and Joseph Ossai whiffed and B.J. Foster never got in position to make the tackle either. Credit to Lincoln Riley for a great pay-call, but there was no way that should have gone for a touchdown.
5. Lamb would victimize Texas again in the fourth quarter, this time with Brandon Jones and Chris Brown failing to get Lamb on the ground on another touchdown play. Jones would later miss tackles on back-to-back plays on OU’s final scoring drive of the game that resulted in long runs for the Sooners. He wasn’t alone though … there were plenty of missed tackles by Texas in this one.
6. Oklahoma sacked Sam Ehlinger nine times. Unreal. Never in a million years did I think that would happen. I thought the Longhorns’ offensive line was one of UT’s biggest advantages coming into the game but they were completely outclassed by OU’s front seven. There were a couple occasions where Ehlinger probably could have got rid of the ball a bit quicker, but the line’s inability to pick up stunts and keep Ehlinger clean was one of the more surprising developments of the tame.
7. Jalen Hurts is exactly who I thought he was coming into the game. When he’s forced to actually make throws to guys who aren’t wide open, he’s a very average passer. Hurts would finish with 235 yards and 3 touchdowns, but most of that was because of CeeDee Lamb getting wide open and making plays after the catch. Hurts did throw an interception, missed several other throws and nearly had another pass picked off in the end zone. Hurts is a good college player, but he sure as hell didn’t look like a Heisman Trophy-caliber player today.
8. While Hurts was unimpressive as a passer, he did make plenty of plays with his legs. He rushed for 131 yards and a score on 17 carries, but Texas didn’t exactly make him work for those yards, especially early in the game. It’s almost like Texas was surprised at Hurts pulling the ball down early in the game because it was the same thing over and over … the UT defense would get pressure upfield on the edge, only to see Hurts dart up the middle of the field for easy yardage.
9. Texas trailed 10-3 at the half, but it felt like the Longhorns were very fortunate to not be down by a few scores. That first-half performance by the Longhorns was just flat out bad.
10. The Longhorns had 45 yards of total offense (negative-five rushing yards) before the last drive of the first half where they got the field goal. Not good.
11. Oklahoma was prepared for UT’s lateral passing game and the Sooners are athletic enough to take that stuff away, yet Texas kept going back to it with zero success. It seemed pretty obvious that Texas needed to go away from the East-West stuff and push the ball vertically (and run right at OU). Case in point … Devin Duvernay’s first 5 receptions covered just 27 yards, and 18 of those yards came on one completion. That means his other four receptions covered a total of 9 yards.
12. The stretch run plays weren’t working either, be it with the backs or Devin Duvernay. Finally, in the second half, Texas started running the ball right at Oklahoma and you saw Roschon Johnson pop off a couple big runs.
13. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a back keep the ball tucked away like Johnson did on his 57-yard run. He literally had that damn thing pinned under his chin and against his pads. That’s some ball security.
14. Speaking of Johnson, he should have made the decision on who should be the starter pretty easy after today. Roschon finished with 95 yards and a score on just 8 carries. Keaontay Ingram had just 2 carries for 9 yards.
15. Oklahoma outgained Texas 511 yards to 310. If I’m being honest, this game didn’t feel as close as the final score would seem to indicate. Only some bad plays by Jalen Hurts kept Texas within striking distance.
16. Collin Johnson had a good game in his first action back from injury (6 catches for 82 yards). He made some beautiful catches but that third-quarter drop when Texas was pinned deep was big. That had a chance to be a huge gain if he brings that one in.
17. Sam Ehlinger didn’t get a lot of help from his line (and sometimes his receivers), but this was not the kind of effort we’ve come to expect from him. His final line … 26 of 38 for 210 yards with 0 TDs and 0 INTs. Ehlinger did score two TDs on the ground but finished with -9 yards rushing due to the sacks. Bottom line, Oklahoma did a really good job of keeping Ehlinger out of rhythm and he just wasn’t good enough to get the win today.
18. What the hell was going on with Texas’ kick returns? I don’t even mind Duvernay bringing it out from deep in the end zone and trying to pop a big play, but dropping a fair catch and fielding one that was probably going to go out of bounds put Texas in a big hole. After advancing OU’s first kick-off out to the 31 yard line, the next four kick-off returns had Texas starting on the Longhorns’ 21, 13, 5 and 16 yard line. Texas’ average field position for the game (12 drives) was the 19 yard line. Oklahoma’s average starting position was at its 41 yard line.
19. Not only did the field position suck, every time I looked up, Texas was facing a third and long. A combination of bad field position and no success on first and second downs is a recipe for disaster.
20. I said coming out of the West Virginia and Oklahoma State wins, Texas would need to play better than it did in those two games to win this one. The Longhorns certainly were not better, and three straight weeks of less-than-stellar play is a bit of a red flag moving forward. I still fully expect Texas and Oklahoma to meet up again in December, but Texas has a lot of areas in which it needs to improve.
